Teen Titans: The Return
by MoonlightMist84
Summary: This story takes place after Season 5 Episode 13: Things Change in which Beast Boy sees a girl who looks exactly like Terra. The Titans soon meet up with this lookalike who calls herself Amber after having a run-in with the supposedly dead Slade. The team must destroy Slade once and for all in order to save Amber.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Teen Titans. **

**Chapter 1: Old Foe, New Setting**

The automatic doors opened into the living room of Titans Tower. Starfire, who'd recently decided to attempt cooking Earth food was setting out her ingredients in preparation. On the couch, Cyborg was playing a racing game and winning.

"It's like you're not even trying to beat me," he said with a grin as he twisted the joystick in either direction.

"Yup, you're just really good at this game," Raven said sarcastically from the other end of the couch. The game controller she was supposedly using was sitting on the coffee table untouched. As usual, Raven had a book in her hand and was trying to read and look like she was being social.

Suddenly, Beast Boy, who'd just entered the living room, jumped onto the couch, picked up his controller, and started racing Cyborg. The yellow car on the bottom of the screen started to pick up speed and finally made it to the finish line – a quarter of a second before Cyborg.

"Man, Rae, I didn't think you were even – BB?" His jaw dropped when he saw his best friend sitting next to him. For the past week, Beast Boy had locked himself in his room and only left at night in search of food… or Terra.

"Beast Boy, welcome back," Raven said with a smile, looking up from her book for a brief minute.

Before Beast Boy could utter a single word in response, Starfire had flown over and had her arms around his neck, crushing his windpipe.

"Friend! You are no longer feeling the guilt, yes?" she asked happily in her high, ringing voice.

"Star, let him speak!" Robin said with a smile as he entered the room.

Realizing her strength, she released Beast Boy and waited for him to catch his breath.

"Thanks guys. I'm fine now," he responded, stretching and putting his hands behind his head. He smiled at them to show he was telling the truth, but as soon as they looked away, he returned to a stoic expression.

Suddenly, an alarm went off and GPS coordinates flashed on the television screen.

"It can't be…," Raven muttered incredulously when she saw a face pop up in the corner of the screen.

"No," Beast Boy whispered.

"Slade," Robin snarled.

"He can't still be alive; you said you saw him melt in the fire, right?" Cyborg reminded him.

"Robin?" Starfire pressed him for more information.

"We don't have time now. Titans go!" Robin called out as he ran out the front door.

The others followed him. Robin led in the R-Cycle, Cyborg was in the T-Car, Starfire was soaring through the air, Raven was levitating, and Beast Boy was flapping his crow wings.

When the Titans arrived at the place where the coordinates had led them, they found themselves in a quiet suburban neighbourhood.

"Aw man, we got called out for nothing?" Cyborg whined.

Suddenly there was a bang in the second house from the end.

Without a single moment of hesitation, Robin ran into the house with the Titans following along behind him.

Slade was knocking down one door after another like he was searching for something.

"This is the end of the line. You know, you really shouldn't have come back because I'm only going to get rid of you again," Robin chastised him.

"But if I wasn't here, who would kill you?" asked Slade, his one visible eye almost sparkling in delight.

"Then let's see you try," said Robin, withdrawing his metal rod. A lamp crashed to the floor when he enlarged the rod and guilt spread across his face.

"Ready to die?" Slade asked, his whole body basically tingling at the image of Robin lying dead on the floor.

"Titans, see if there's anyone here while I hold him off!" Robin commanded as he tried to knock Slade down in order to deliver him to the cops.

The Titans split up; Starfire and Raven took the bottom floor while Beast Boy and Cyborg took the top floor.

"Yo! Is anyone here? You have to get out!" Cyborg shouted.

"We're the Teen Titans! We're here to rescue you!" Beast Boy called out.

"Beast Boy? Is that you?" a small, familiar voice whispered through the darkness.

Cyborg shifted until the beam of his flashlight fell on a girl with dishevelled blonde hair and big blue eyes cowering in a closet of clothes.

"Terra?" Cyborg asked incredulously.

"No. My name is Amber Calloway," the girl replied, "I'm not Terra, but the man downstairs keeps calling me that."

The Titans heard a lot of banging downstairs as the front door opened to admit more people. They weren't sure whether the newcomers were good or evil so Beast Boy and Cyborg took no chances.

"I'll bring her to safety," Beast Boy said to Cyborg. Then to Amber, he asked, "Do you trust me?"

The girl was quiet, hesitant, but then she looked into Beast Boy's green eyes and solemnly nodded.

Beast Boy jumped out of the window and transformed into an eagle. Getting close to the window, he gripped Amber's shoulders with his talons and flew into the night.

Meanwhile, the fight between Robin and Slade had grown even more intense. The two of them were breaking everything in sight. It wasn't just cheap knickknacks being ruined either. Stereos, televisions, a coffee table… everything seemed to be fair game.

Cyborg had run downstairs to see how his friends were faring and saw dozens of Slade's drones heading down the hallway where Raven and Starfire had gone. He followed them, blasting haphazardly with his sonic cannon.

When all of the drones were beaten, Cyborg opened the door of the last room on the right. A green light was visible through the crack under the door, signifying Starfire's presence. When he opened the door, he saw that Raven wasn't there.

"Where's Raven, Starfire?" Cyborg asked, his voice betraying the worry he felt.

"She went to warn Robin," Starfire replied, her face showing a look of defeat.

"Of what, Starfire?" Cyborg asked, worry escalating to fear.

"We've entered a trap," she said. Then she pressed play on a tape recorder next to the telephone:

_Please… We need help… The Teen Titans are destroying our house… They just broke in… We live at 311 Westboro Dr…. Please send someone… Help us… They've gone crazy…_

Simultaneously, Robin pulled off Slade's mask, but instead of seeing the skeletal face of his archenemy as he'd seen it before, he saw the innards of a computer and heard a recording:

_Oh, Robin… Still falling for the same old tricks…_

"Can we go now?" Raven asked, rolling her eyes at Robin's stupidity.

He nodded and then shouted, "Titans, retreat!"

Robin and Cyborg grabbed their vehicles and sped through the city back to the Tower and the girls followed above at top speed.

Back at Titans Tower, Amber curled up on the couch and watched as Beast Boy paced back and forth with his yellow and black communicator in hand.

"Robin, what's going on?" he asked, hoping Slade had been beaten by now.

"We're on out way back to the Tower," Robin replied, "Where are you?"

"I'm at the Tower with the girl from the house, Amber," Beast Boy told him.

"We have a lot to discuss when we get back," Robin said. Then the communicator clicked off.

Beast Boy continued pacing back and forth, thinking about what Robin had said. Something must've happened after he'd left – something really bad. He put a gloved hand through his hair nervously as he tried to stay calm.

"My parents went away for the weekend. What are they going to do when they get back and find me gone?" asked Amber worriedly.

"Robin will have a plan," Beast Boy replied confidently.

When the rest of the Titans returned, their eyes fell on Amber. She wore a black t-shirt and a pair of pale blue, green, and orange plaid pyjama pants. She held her knees to her chest protectively, afraid to see all of the Titans staring at her.

"Why are you all staring at me?" she asked, looking at the floor.

"Terra! We thought you were –" Starfire began excitedly.

"I'm not Terra. My name is Amber and I have no idea what's going on. I just want to go home and wait for my parents to get back," Amber interrupted.

"Sorry, we can't let you go home just yet. Slade is looking for you and you're safest with us. I think the best thing is for you to call your parents and tell them you're safe. Then tomorrow, we're taking a little road trip," Robin explained.

"Where are we going?" asked Beast Boy before Amber could say anything.

"We're going to see the Titans East," Cyborg replied, "I already left a message with Bumblebee to let them know we're going."

"Why are we leaving?" Beast Boy asked.

"Slade trapped us. The cops are going to be over to question us for breaking and entering tomorrow. They might even be adding kidnapping to the list," said Raven, her eyes straying to Amber, "We need some time to figure out what's going on."

"I have school tomorrow. What are they going to do if I don't show up?" Amber asked.

"If we leave you here, Slade will find you. If you come with us, we can protect you. The cops will be after us, but they already are anyway so you might as well come along," Robin explained.

Amber nodded, her blue eyes still wide with fear. It was obvious by her body language that she didn't want to be at the Tower. It had only been a week since Beast Boy had followed her around, trying to convince her she was someone she clearly wasn't.

"If it is so important that we leave, why must we wait until tomorrow?" asked Starfire confusedly.

"They'll be expecting us to leave tonight so they'll be stationed at every possible exit. Tomorrow, they'll be coming to check out the Tower so we just have to leave before they get here," Robin explained, grinning a little at his own intelligence.

"On the run from the cops? This could be fun…," Raven commented with a smirk.

"Aw, yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Cyborg agreed wholeheartedly. He punched the air in excitement.

"Strange, but it might be amusing," Starfire said with a shrug.

"That's the spirit, Star!" Robin commended her, smiling.

Suddenly, Beast Boy remembered Amber. He turned to face her and was about to ask her if she wanted to sleep in Terra's room when he saw that she was already asleep on the couch. She snored softly, her head on one of the blue couch cushions.

Cyborg put a mechanical hand on his best friend's shoulder and said to him in a low voice, "She's not Terra, dude."  
Beast Boy looked up into his semi-robotic friend's face with wide, hopeful eyes. "She's gotta be out there somewhere, Cy; the rock's gone," he said.

"Let's all get some rest," Robin said, one hand on Beast Boy's shoulder and the other on Cyborg's back.

The Titans agreed and, yawning, retreated to their respective rooms.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Teen Titans.**

**Chapter 2: A Friendly Reunion**

In a similar Tower in the east, five Titans, who'd only just recently begun breakfast, were already up to their usual antics.

Más, sitting on top of Menos's shoulders, grabbed the three banana nut pancakes from Aqualad's plate as Aqualad went searching for maple syrup. Then, swiftly scooting across the room (as was their power), they snatched the six strips of bacon from Speedy's plate and zipped over to the other side of the room to place the bacon on Aqualad's plate. The Spanish twins then retreated to a corner, pancakes in hand, to watch everything play out and eat their breakfast in peace.

"Hey, where's my bacon?" Speedy asked the room at large, showing them his empty plate.

"Maybe you already ate it," Bumblebee suggested with a shrug.

"If I ate it already, then why am I still hungry?" asked Speedy, practically daring her to insult him.

"Well, you are a pig," Bumblebee said, smirking at the bad joke.

Más y Menos chuckled in the corner, but just as they'd hoped, no one paid any mind to them.

"I'll show you who's a pig!" Speedy yelled. He took an apple from the counter, pierced it with one of the arrows from his quiver, and fired the apple straight into Bumblebee's mouth.

Fuming, the team leader tore the apple from her mouth. "That's it; you're dead!" she thundered. Then she minimized herself and started stinging Speedy.

Between grimaces of pain, he caught a glimpse of Aqualad's plate. "My bacon!" he shouted. Speedy ran over to the counter where the plate was left unattended, swatting Bumblebee with the back of his hand absentmindedly.

Aqualad turned to face the advancing Titan, maple syrup in hand. Confusion was evident on his face as he looked first at Speedy and then at his plate. "Where are my pancakes?" he asked, mostly to himself.

"Oh, _my_ bacon isn't enough for you?" Speedy sneered, preparing to pounce on Aqualad.

Almost powerless outside of water, Aqualad ran to the pool in the center of the living room and dove in.

"That's right, run from me, bacon thief!" Speedy continued following his teammate.

"Don't you walk away from me!" Bumblebee squeaked, straightening herself out.

As the three Titans fought and Más y Menos laughed at them from the corner, the Teen Titans from the west entered the Tower. Noticing the bacon sitting unprotected on the plate, Cyborg scarfed it down.

"That is some mighty fine bacon!" he grinned, rubbing his stomach happily.

Más y Menos laughed even harder as Speedy gave Cyborg the darkest look he could, but before either of them could say a word, Bumblebee resumed her actual size and walked over.

"Hey Sparky, what took you so long? We expected you her yesterday," she questioned him with her hands on her hips.

"It was a little harder to get past the cops than we thought," Cyborg replied nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

"What?!" Speedy and Aqualad said together.

"¿¡Qué!" Más y Menos repeated in unison.

"I think you guys should explain what happened," said Bumblebee giving each of the newcomers a look that meant this was more of an order than a suggestion. When her eyes fell on Amber, she specified, "Starting from the beginning."

When the western Titans had finished their explanation, Bumblebee gave Amber a once-over. "Maybe we should train you in self-defence if a guy as bad as Slade is after you," she said as she observed her thin body.

Suddenly, an alarm went off and Aqualad, who was closest to the computer, checked to see who their enemy was. When an image of his oldest foe appeared on the screen, he was astonished.

"Dude, Trident's back?" asked Beast Boy, peeking over Aqualad's shoulder. He remembered the day like it was yesterday. The two heroes had been rivals, both trying to appear superior to the other, but in the end, the two of them had saved the day by working together.

"This shouldn't be too hard. I can take care of this myself," said Aqualad, already halfway out the door.

"Um, hello? Do you not remember anything from the last time? You could only defeat him when we were working together," Beast Boy reminded him.

"And you're on a team now. That means we're coming whether you like it or not," Speedy told him with his arms crossed against his chest and a smirk at his lips.

"Got that right!" Bumblebee agreed.

"¡Todos para uno y uno para todos!" Más y Menos cheered.

"We shall help also!" Starfire volunteered excitedly.

"Actually, we should probably stay here this time. The Titans East can handle it," Robin declined.

All of the Titans were shocked to hear the eternally helpful leader of the western Titans actually volunteer to stay back.

"What have you done with Robin? Leave here at once!" Starfire ordered her boyfriend. She stood in her attack position and her eyes glowed green.

"Easy, Star," Robin soothed. He looked at the rest of his team and said, "He was frozen. There's no way he could've gotten out of that by himself. Slade must've unfrozen him and the rest of the villains. If we help Titans East now, he'll know where we are and he'll take Amber."

The Titans all looked at each other and decided the plan made a lot of sense.

"We'll train Amber while you're gone," Robin added.

All in agreement (except an annoyed Aqualad who still believed he could take Trident single-handedly), the Titans East left the Tower to stop the treat. Then the western Titans all turned to Amber.

"Raven, I think you should help her meditate before I teach her some hand-to-hand combat," Robin told her.

Raven looked at Amber for a long moment. A short strand of purple hair fell into her eyes and still, she continued to look. The resemblance between Amber and Terra was positively frightening. Raven had never been Terra's biggest fan. She was starting to doubt that Amber and Terra were so unrelated. What if Beast Boy had been right about them being the same person? Terra had proven herself as a true friend in the end. Maybe Amber deserved a little trust as well.

"Follow me," Raven told Amber and with that, the two of them left the room.

Meanwhile, the Titans East followed Aqualad's directions to where Trident was wreaking havoc. Like the western Titans, the team had their own submarine to use for transportation. Unlike Aqualad, the others couldn't breathe underwater.

Aqualad swam around a rock formation and found himself eye to eye with Trident. Telepathically, he called a pair of dolphins to his side.

The villain laughed at the animals his foe decided to call. He'd expected sharks, a giant squid, or even electric eels. Dolphins were playful and friendly. There was no way anyone could beat him with something so weak.

With Trident distracted, Aqualad signalled the others to expose themselves. As soon as they came into view, they stabbed him with a spear which jutted out from the submarine.

Weakened, yet even angrier than before, the Atlantean righted himself. He searched for Aqualad so he could take out his frustration on him, but the Titan was nowhere to be seen. Deciding that Aqualad was a coward for fleeing, he set his eyes on the submarine. Trident knew that he had an advantage. All he had to do to win was cut off their air supply. With super speed and a powerful trident, this would be a cinch – now that he wasn't distracted.

Meanwhile, Aqualad was swimming through a labyrinth of grottoes searching for an indication of clones being created, but he saw nothing. Maybe he actually learned from his mistakes since the clones had been the key to his defeat before. He couldn't assume that though. If there were clones hiding somewhere and he didn't find them, the entire mission would fail because of him.

Aqualad asked the dolphins to help him search for anything unusual. Unfortunately, he realized his mistake after he made it. Dolphins were intelligent creatures, but if they sent out a message to other creatures of the sea to be absolutely sure that everything was okay, Trident would hear and come swimming back to stop him. He could only stay where he was and hope nothing would happen. Hopefully, his teammates were weakening him even more as he swam there worrying.

Back at the submarine, the rest of the team wasn't doing so well. Since Trident was right on top of the submarine and too strong to be knocked off, none of their weapons would work. The Titans even tried to knock him off by separating into four pods, but that didn't even work.

Speedy noted that the oxygen in the overall submarine was dropping at an alarminf rate and radioed the others: _We're losing oxygen. Fast. We have to get to the surface._

The Titans responded in the affirmative and separated. The three pods rose to the surface and strangely, Trident swam away.

"¿Sr. Trident tiene miedo de aire seco?" Más asked Menos.

"No se," Menos replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

_Any idea what they're saying?_ Speedy radioed Bumblebee alone.

_No clue._ Bumblebee responded, shrugging.

Below the surface, Trident's advancing silhouette alerted Aqualad to the battle. He knew it would be all up to him now.

_This should be a fair battle. Atlantean vs. Atlantean. No weapons but our own wits._ Aqualad proposed. Perhaps it would be easier to finish him off with the help of a shark, but there was something in the way Trident looked at him that piqued his curiosity.

_As I recall, you didn't play fair last time we met._ Trident responded. The proposal for a true Atlantean battle confused him greatly. He'd been banished from Atlantis long ago. Why would he care to follow the ways of his native city now?

_As I recall, neither did you._ Aqualad reminded him.

_Very well, I'll accept your offer._ Trident replied, throwing down his trident.

Normally, Aqualad would've gone and snapped up the weapon before his enemy could catch him, but he'd promised a fair battle and he would follow through. The Atlanteans fought for a good long while before Aqualad finally realized why Trident looked so familiar.

_You're Darius, the strongest in Atlantis. _He said, _They told stories about you to inspire us all. Why would they banish you?_

Eager to tell his story, Trident said: _A deep sea diver 'discovered' me and was impressed by my power. All the same, she said she was working on some kind of project. If it was successful, I would become invincible. Of course, I agreed to try it. Now you can see that I am Perfection, I am Excellence, I am Perfect Warrior! The others were jealous of my power and tried to cut me down to size so I punished them and they banished me._

_ You were my hero as a child, Darius, but I'm afraid your days are at an end. _Aqualad said. As Trident had been speaking, Aqualad had been pushing him back and now he was on the edge of a great wall. Before his enemy could make an attempt to escape, he pushed him into a dark, seemingly endless pit. If he was lucky, the predators would swallow him whole. If not, he could be falling forever. The pit was at the center of all Atlantean horror stories so the fear in Trident's eyes was expected. The last words he screamed as he fell into the pit were, however, very surprising:

_Slade will destroy you and your friends hiding at your Tower!_

Aqualad's eyes widened. If Trident knew and Slade knew, who else knew? More importantly, what were their plans?


End file.
